CIMMYT goes to college

For the past two years, Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, has been using two CIMMYT manuals as a resource in its Agrilife Research Department undergraduate program. Students in Crop Stress Management 402, a senior level course for undergraduates working towards a degree in Plant and Environmental Soil Science, gain knowledge from “Physiological Breeding I: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Improve Crop Adaptation” and “Physiological Breeding II: A Field Guide to Wheat Phenotyping.”

According to Dirk Hays, professor and chair of the Molecular and Environmental Plant Sciences Department at the University, the manuals are used during a course in which genotypic responses to crop stress are measured in the greenhouse and field, and crop stress monitoring is part of the crop management strategy. “This is one of the best stress phenotyping and measurement manuals currently available,” said Hays.

In addition to visits from students and scientists, and the sharing of knowledge and research, CIMMYT and Texas A&M have had a long partnership. Among other things, a strong bond between the two organizations was forged with the 1980s appointment of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former CIMMYT wheat scientist Norman Borlaug as professor and researcher at the University.